Multiple college events to be held in October

Four major college-counseling events will occur in the next three weeks.

The first three will be held next week, Oct. 13-17.

All seniors will attend the Senior Moratorium on Wednesday, Oct. 15, from 8:20-12:45.

The moratorium will be held in the Matthews Library, during the time that the sophomores and juniors take the PSAT.

Faculty members, including college counselor Jane Bauman, will be present at the event to read college essays and help students fill out the Common Application, as well as applications for the UC’s and CSU’s.

Bauman feels confident about this year’s moratorium.

“We are currently on track for every student to have completed their fall college appointment with their college counselor before the Senior Moratorium,” Bauman said.

This will allow the counselors to really focus on helping the students to continue refining their college lists and work on their essays, she said.

A new event, called Case Studies, will also be held on Wednesday, Oct. 15, from 6-8 p.m.

The event will be led by Aliana Dunn, the interim associate dean of admissions at Pomona College.

The Case Studies are open to sophomores, juniors and seniors, as well as parents of eighth graders and high schoolers.

Participants will serve as an admissions committee. They will be split into small groups, and Dunn will provide each group with information about a fictitious college.

The groups will receive four applications, including transcripts and letters of recommendation, to that fictitious school.

They will then decide which application they would accept, which one they would deny, and which two they would wait-list.

“The idea is to become more familiar with the application process, and to see it from the college’s point of view,” Bauman said.

Bauman thinks that juniors and seniors should definitely attend.

The next college event is Financial Aid Night, on Thursday, Oct. 16.

The event will be presented by Margie Amott, a local independent college counselor.

Bauman recommends that all juniors and seniors attend the Financial Aid Night as well because the presentation isn’t aimed toward only people who are interested in need-based aid, but also provides information about merit-based aid and scholarships.

Bauman said she wanted the three events next week to occur close together because she wanted the students to be immersed in the process.

“It is really like a college-counseling blitz,” Bauman said. “Instead of having the events cause several interruptions in the classroom, there will just be one big interruption.”

The final college counseling event will be a presentation by Harry Le Grande, vice chancellor of student affairs at UC Berkeley, in the Matthews Library during lunch on Thursday, Oct. 30.

Le Grande’s presentation will take the place of the regularly scheduled C Day meeting.

This event is noteworthy because UC admission representatives usually don’t travel to individual schools, according to Bauman.

“It’s really wonderful that we get to hear directly from UC Berkeley,” Bauman said.